Opinions were divided among prostitutes yesterday over proposals to change the law to make it illegal to pay for sex. Some think it will increase the safety of sex workers and reduce the trade in human trafficking; others believe it will force the trade further underground and increase the dangers for prostitutes.

Paying for sex is not illegal in Britain, although brothel-keeping is a criminal offence, as are kerb-crawling and soliciting. Changes to current legislation were proposed last week by Denis McShane, former Minister for Europe, and Harriet Harman, the Women's Minister.

'The time has come to tackle the demand side of the ever-increasing exploitation of women and that means making men accept that they have responsibility for the sex-slave industry,' said McShane, whose tabled amendment to put men before the courts if they pay women for sex is backed by local authorities and police chiefs.

Harman, Labour's deputy leader and the Leader of the Commons, agreed. She used an interview on Radio Four's Today programme to call for a debate. 'Unless you tackle the demand for human trafficking, we will not be able to protect women from it,' she said. 'Do we think it's right, in the 21st century, that women should be in a sex trade or do we think it's exploitation and should be banned? My own personal view is that's what we need to do as a next step.'

The government is carrying out a wholesale review of the laws around prostitution after gradually toughening its stance on the sex trade over recent years. Plans to permit 'tolerance zones' containing small brothels, with two prostitutes and a maid, were recently shelved, while trafficking adults or children for the purposes of committing sexual offences was specifically outlawed last year, after the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, rejected Home Office objections that helping women trafficked as sex slaves would encourage more migration to the UK. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 also introduced penalties against those who sexually exploit children.

As part of the new review, ministers will travel to Sweden, where paying for sex has already been made illegal. They will consider McShane's proposed legislation, supported by MPs Fiona Mactaggart and Barry Gardiner, that local authorities and the police be given powers to identify zones in town areas where men caught paying for sex may be charged and put before the courts.

Britain has an estimated 25,000 women in brothels, some under the age of 16 and many under 21, who have been trafficked into the UK to work in brothels and massage parlours.

'These are ruthlessly exploited girls and women who are not willing sex workers but who are beaten, raped and held as prisoners to satisfy the demand of British men for paid-for sex,' said McShane, whose tabling of the amendment follows talks with newspapers to stop the publication of small advertisements offering services at brothels which are believed to be linked to human trafficking.

'This is seedy, international crime and the men who pay for it should be made to accept their responsibility,' he added. 'Just as laws to stop kerb-crawling have seen an average 900 convictions a year since 2001 and helped to reduce that part of the sex trade.'

'I'd been dreaming of a future as a wife and a mother' - Alma, 26

Alma (not her real name) fell in love with a man she met in Poland seven months ago. He said he wanted to introduce her to his family. Under this pretence, he ended up kidnapping her. He used a false passport to bring her to Manchester and force her to work in a brothel.

'I had been working as a waitress, dreaming of a future as a wife and mother,' Alma says. 'This man shared my Muslim religion. I trusted him. When he locked me in his house, took away all my money and possessions, I was terrified. But when he forced me into a car and had a friend drive me to a foreign country where I didn't speak the language or know anyone, I was beside myself . My family went to the police but after a week I knew they wouldn't take me back because, according to our religion, I was ruined.

'He beat me and made me live with another girl who spied on me. She wouldn't leave me for a second and reported to this man if I did anything that looked like trying to escape. He forced me to work in the brothel, but the clients complained because I just cried all the time. The manager asked me what was wrong. I didn't have the language to express myself, but eventually I managed to explain. I don't think she felt sorry for me, but she saw that I wasn't going to earn her brothel any money because I would never willingly work. She helped me to escape and I went to the police. This has damaged my life in all directions. I have no dreams now and no hopes. I have nothing.'

Frances Brodrick, of Eaves, the charity that helps homeless women, is assisting Alma to prosecute the man for trafficking and stay in Britain. She says: 'We welcome Harriet Harman's recommendations; they are a great start, but they will only work if we match them with well-funded and well-structured exit strategies for the women they will affect. They are often so damaged, physically and psychologically, that simply trying to force them off the streets will never work.'

'He tortured me so badly I needed a hysterectomy' - Toni, 37

Toni was made redundant from her job as a teacher in the same month that her husband had a serious bike accident that left him permanently disabled and unable to work. With two small children, the couple soon found themselves in debt.

'We found the benefits system completely untenable for the lifestyle I expected to be able to give my children and I refused to lower my standards. Soon the bailiffs were knocking at the door and I realised the children could be taken away from me. Prostitution hadn't crossed my mind, but then I saw an escort agency recruiting for jobs and, somehow, it suddenly seemed like a matter-of-fact decision.

'I met the agency owners for an interview in a motorway layby and by the end of that evening I had seen four separate clients and had £400 to show my husband. After a while it almost became like a normal 9-to-5 job. I was a mum during the day, then at night I was working for an escort agency.

'But seven months after I started, I was raped by a client. He tied me up for four-and a-half hours, during which time he tortured me so badly I needed a hysterectomy. I eventually escaped, but the police refused to prosecute him because I was a prostitute. It took me three years, but eventually I took out the first ever private prosecution for rape in England and Wales with the help of the English Collective of Prostitutes. He got 14 years. I haven't worked in the sex trade since.

'The sort of legislation being suggested by Harriet Harman will force women out of the brothels and on to the most deserted, most dangerous streets. She is playing into the hands of the most violent men who target those areas.

'We need to legalise prostitution, as in New Zealand. That's the only way for prostitutes to be safe.'

'I'd stop, but I'm trapped by my criminal record' - Jenny, 47

Jenny, 47, started working as a prostitute on the streets of Manchester after fleeing an abusive partner. Living in a hostel for abused women, trying to care for her profoundly disabled seven-year-old daughter, she says she had no choice but to turn to the trade.

'I used to work for ICI as a printer and my partner was a builder, but I stopped work to care for my daughter after she was born. We had a comfortable life, but when I left I had a single suitcase to my name. I was completely desperate. It was either a case of me putting my daughter in care and topping myself, or getting money quickly.

'I met a girl who worked on the streets and that gave me the idea. The first night I was numb, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The other girls were a complete mixture, but they were perfectly nice to me. The clients were a surprise, too. Most are really nice and you actually build up a sort of relationship with regular clients.

'I've even been on a couple of exotic holidays. I've had a client leave his wife for me twice, but I always send him back. You adopt a persona when working on the streets. You can be nice to the men for a couple of hours, but if you're with that person constantly it's difficult.

'I would have stopped working as a prostitute years ago but I'm trapped now because, thanks to soliciting being illegal, I've got a criminal record that makes doing other work very difficult. So instead of being able to put this behind me, I just try to do it as little as possible.

'We need to legalise prostitution. Instead of trying to force women to leave the trade by making it too dangerous for them to continue, we need to provide more funding, increased facilities and more support to stop these girls needing to earn money in the first place.'